The review will hear from officers about their experiences gather evidence and research, focusing on; officer safety training, equipment, deployment and operational planning, investigations into officer assaults and the care provided after an assault, and the the response from the criminal justice system in providing a sufficient deterrent.

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“I am determined this work will provide considered recommendations on what more we can do to protect our frontline staff, respond as effectively as possible if they are assaulted and push for justice to be done.”

PC Harper was the first officer in the country to be killed while on duty since PC Keith Palmer was stabbed to death outside Parliament in March 2017.

And Insp Gray said PC Harper's death had brought thoughts of the force's own fallen colleagues to the forefront of everyone's mind.

"I think specifically of Sgt Bill Forth, who was stabbed to death in Sunniside in 1993, PC Joe Carroll, who was killed in 2006 when his police vehicle overturned near Corbridge as a result of the actions of his prisoner, and PC David Rathband, who took his own life in 2012 following being shot and blinded.

Police officers pay their respects at the scene of PC Harper's death (Image: PA)

"I also think about PC John Davidson, who served with Northumbria Police for 12 years before emigrating to Canada with his family and becoming a police officer in British Columbia. John was shot and killed on duty after responding to a routine call in November 2017.

"Andrew’s wife, family, friends, and colleagues all remain in our thoughts and prayers here in Northumbria Police, as do the families of Bill, Joe, David, and John."

We take a look at the local officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice over recent decades.

PC David Rathband

PC David Rathband (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

Traffic officer PC Rathband, from Blyth, was sitting in his patrol car at the roundabout between the A1 and the A69, in East Denton, Newcastle, when fugitive gunman Raoul Moat blasted him through the window, shooting him in the face and chest.

The 42-year-old married dad-of-two, had been a Northumbria Police officer for almost 11 years and was working as a motor patrols officer in Newcastle.

PC Rathband, also a respected referee in the Northern League first division and linesman in the second, was blinded by the attack.

While recovery from his horrific injuries David founded the Blue Lamp Foundation, a charity set-up to support injured emergency service personnel.

But David failed to cope with life after losing his sight, and took his own life on February 29, 2012.

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PC Joe Carroll

PC Joe Carroll (Image: PA)

Traditional village bobby PC Carroll lost his life in a horror smash on a Northumberland road in 2006 after drunken prisoner Steven Graham caused his squad car to overturn.

The cop, who was 46 when he died, lived in West Woodburn with his wife Caroline and for the last 13 years of his 24-year police career he was a well-known community bobby covering the nearby village of Bellingham and its surrounding areas.

PC Carroll had been transporting Graham to Etal Lane Police Station in Newcastle along with Insp Brian English after arresting him for breach of the peace following a domestic incident involving his estranged girlfriend at her house in West Woodburn.

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Newcastle Crown Court would later hear how Graham had leaned forward and grabbed the handbrake as the patrol car travelled at around 70mph near where the A69 meets the A68 at Corbridge, causing the vehicle to overturn.

Gulf war veteran Graham admitted manslaughter in June 2006 and was jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Sgt Bill Forth

Sgt Bill Forth (Image: Newcastle Journal)

Sgt Forth was answering a 999 call in Gateshead when he was attacked in March 1993.

Accompanied by a colleague he attended a report of a smashed window, in Clover Hill, Sunniside, when he fatally crossed paths with crazed Paul Weddle.

High on a cocktail of drink, drugs and lighter fuel, the 26-year-old beat Sgt Forth, with fence railings before stabbing the dad-of-two in the heart.

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Today's other news and sport

Hundreds of young men gathered on the Broadwater Farm estate and started setting fire to cars.

Concrete slabs were dropped on officers and in total 250 were injured.

PC Blakelock was with police colleagues and firefighters when they entered a block of flats and made their way up a narrow staircase, but were forced back by rioters.

As the emergency services workers ran out of the stairwell, PC Blakelock fell over.

Witnesses described seeing around 50 people on top of the stricken officer and the post-mortem into his death found 54 separate holes in his uniform and 40 cutting or stabbing injuries, with eight of them to his head.

A six-inch knife was found stuck in his neck, buried up to the hilt.

He was taken by ambulance to hospital but died on his way.

PC Blakelock was posthumously awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for his bravery.

A memorial for the fallen officer stands by the roundabout at Muswell Hill in North London.